The theme of your book is very interesting and contemporary. We are living in times when human thought is reevaluating the past and assessing its current value on the crucible of present experience of mankind. Religion is one of them. Once a force to open man’s doors to the Beyond, religion has helped mankind nurture the dreams of greater ideal by showing the way to a greater life. However with passage of time, the human mind with its tendency to formalise and crystallize everything has turned religion into certain fixed dogmas, ritualistic formulas and worse still organised it into a political tool to expand dominions. In addition, the stress on exclusivity of certain religions and sects have turned it into a tool in the hands of divisive forces and, as its inevitable result, become breeding ground for fanaticism. This is what the Gita calls as dharmasyaglani, the decline of dharma, wherein the outer shell is preserved but the Spirit that gave birth to it is lost.
Mankind is now entering into a new spiritual Age. The dreams of Religions as well as the ideals of the secular minded, such as oneness, brotherhood, compassion, freedom, equality, truth and justice have to now find the new instrument for expression and fulfilment. That new instrument is gradually developing in the human mind. It is a new mind, an intuitive mind or a mind of Light that is able to perceive deeper truths, behind the appearances, its thoughts and ideas are soaring higher than the material intellect glued to sensory ‘facts’, a mind that is more global in its perspective. One can witness the emergence of this greater Mind in humanity. It does not discard the earlier evolutionary layers such as the sensory mind, the dynamic creative mind and the rational. It includes them and yet passes beyond it towards the Idea of the future. This book itself is an indicator of a new Thought moving mankind towards realising its dream of freedom, equality, unity, fraternity on wings of a new aspiration which goes beyond Religion and refuses to shut the Supreme Reality into fixed and narrow formulas nor limits the Infinite and the Eternal into few streams of sectarian effort or reserves the entry into the sanctum sanctorum of the Divine to a chosen few. Rather one can witness wide doors and windows opening upon a higher, diviner consciousness that is flooding mankind from every side even in fields such as physical science, psychology, health and education.
Of course the number of this new type of humanity emerging out of the old is still few. The New Idea is still in its infancy but growing exponentially especially among the young generation that is seeking for a new light beyond the usual propaganda and intolerance displayed by religions and ideologies alike. It is only as this new type multiplies that spontaneously man will realise the dreams of which these lesser instruments were the custodians so far. But now the Age of Religions and Ideologies is over. After the material, scientific and intellectual revolutions we have entered the Age of a spiritual revolution. What we are witnessing is the death and destruction of the old world that based itself on the divisive mind with competetion, strife, ambition, selfishness as its core values. But amidst this destruction we are also witnessing the birth of a New World, slowly growing within man, taking hold of the human consciousness and silently asserting itself.
Let me close with these prophetic words of the Mother uttered nearly a century ago.
‘For we are living in an exceptional time at an exceptional turning point of the world’s history. Never before, perhaps, did mankind pass through such a dark period of hatred, bloodshed and confusion. And, at the same time, never had such a strong, such an ardent hope awakened in the hearts of the people. Indeed, if we listen to our heart’s voice, we immediately perceive that we are, more or less consciously, waiting for a new reign of justice, of beauty, of harmonious good-will and fraternity. And this seems in complete contradiction with the actual state of the world. But we all know that never is the night so dark as before the dawn. May not this darkness, then, be the sign of an approaching dawn? And as never was night so complete, so terrifying, maybe never will dawn have been so bright, so pure, so illuminating as the coming one…. After the bad dreams of the night the world will awaken to a new consciousness.
The civilisation which is ending now in such a dramatic way was based on the power of mind, mind dealing with matter and life. What it has been to the world, we have not to discuss here. But a new reign is coming, that of the Spirit: after the human, the divine.
Yet, if we have been fortunate enough to live on earth at such a stupendous, a unique time as this one, is it sufficient to stand and watch the unfolding events? All those who feel that their heart extends further than the limits of their own person and family, that their thought embraces more than small personal interests and local conventions, all those, in short, who realise that they belong not to themselves, or to their family, or even to their country, but to God who manifests Himself in all countries, through mankind, these, indeed, know that they must rise and set to work for the sake of humanity, for the advent of the Dawn.’
Collected Works of the Mother Volume 3
Affectionately,
Alok Da
